Yin generals and Yang generals: "The first male should be married, the female should be married." Since ancient times, people have generally regarded the marriage of a man and a woman as a major event in life and attached great importance to it. Jiang Haifeng, a late Qing scholar from Eshishan in Wanglian Town, wrote a book called "An Examination of the Weddings of Scholars and Commoners", which conducted extensive research on the weddings of the ancient scholar-bureaucrat class and ordinary people with the surname Bai. Marriage is the beginning of human relations. The union of two surnames can be used in the ancestral temple and recorded in future generations. Precisely because it is related to the development of human beings, weddings are both complicated and solemn. In ancient China, not only the scholar-bureaucrats followed the six rites, but also ordinary people had to follow the six rites of "accepting gifts", "asking for names", "accepting auspiciousness", "accepting levies", "asking for dates" and "welcoming personally". There are just some differences in the traditional and simplified rituals. Rongcheng is located in a remote area and is also under the rule of Shandong. However, it changed the practice of "following the customs and not welcoming people personally" and strictly followed the six rites. "Zheng", "invitation period" and "welcome" have been replaced by names such as "saying marriage", "sending cards", "sending exterior and interior", "sending latch", etc. The whole wedding is roughly divided into three stages. As the saying goes when proposing a marriage: "Don't keep your daughter when she's older. Keep her and keep her to create grudges." In the past, men and women usually married young. If a woman was not engaged or married over the age of 18, not only the woman herself, but also her parents would be affected. People will laugh at you. If a man is over 20 and not married, he will also attract all kinds of criticism and even affect his future marriage. Therefore, when parents give birth to a child, they pay attention to the child's marriage. It is very common for folk farmers to marry their babies, and some even marry with their fingertips. The stage of proposing a marriage includes three parts: matchmaking, marriage, and marriage ceremony, which is equivalent to "receiving the gift" and "asking for the name" in ancient rituals. Matchmaking is commonly known as matchmaking. In the past, marriages between men and women were arranged by the parents, and the marriage was negotiated through a matchmaker to match the two surnames, so it was called "the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker." To create a marriage relationship, you must first abide by the social customs of not marrying with the same surname and special regulations (such as the social custom of not marrying between Guan and Cao surnames), and then consider whether the couple is a good match, age, etc. It is usually the man who takes the initiative and sends a matchmaker to propose marriage. The matchmaker plays an extremely important role in the marriage between men and women. None of the matchmakers in Rongcheng countryside make this their profession. On the contrary, people regard helping others to enter into marriage as the "beauty of adulthood", doing good deeds and doing good deeds. This kind of person tells the truth when telling a matchmaker, and does not cover up or cover up. As a matchmaker, it is only a matchmaker. Whether it succeeds or not is a matter between the two parties involved. There is no conflict of interest with the matchmaker: after the transaction is completed, the groom's family will give him clothing materials or a pig's head to eat. The situation is different in the larger market towns within the territory. There are matchmakers who specialize in arranging marriages. These people are hard-working, talkative and clever, and "can talk the dead back to life." Because they regard marriage planning as their profession, they communicate extensively on weekdays and accumulate various information about the men and women to be married, such as age, appearance, conduct, family status, etc., and take the initiative to help matchmakers without the need for instructions from their hosts, so that things can come true. You can get a generous thank you gift afterwards. Therefore, most of these people who work as matchmakers are deceitful and add extraneous details, which makes the two families lose their minds and respond in a muddle-headed manner, which often leads to adverse consequences. There is a folk proverb in Rongcheng, "If you are a matchmaker and hide things from both sides, you can't get married if you don't hide it." Therefore, they were included in the "six wives" in ancient times. After saying that they were getting married, her mission was completed. The host family invited two more men with the best reputations to be the matchmakers. Because the names of the matchmakers were written on the post, they were also called "red matchmakers." "Jian Xiu". The process of marrying a matchmaker was called "nacai" in ancient weddings. Integrated marriage: Trouble begins when both men and women have the desire to get married through the introduction and explanation of the matchmaker. The first is the conflict between parents and children. Because it is the parents' orders, children often have their own ideas. The son hopes to marry a handsome wife, and the father often scolds: "You are talking about a daughter-in-law to make a living, not to use her as a picture poster." "As long as she is virtuous, don't care about her color." The son likes tall people and says, "Father is a good boy, mother is a good girl." "We're all in trouble." The father retorted: "Tall people are not as resourceful as dwarfs." After the father and son argued, they still couldn't sign a marriage contract, so they had to ask a fortune teller or a yin-yang man to get married, that is, to see if the marriage met the requirements. The content of the marriage includes whether the fertility, fate, and birth dates of the man and woman are in conflict with each other or complement each other. The zodiac signs of men and women must first be opposite. The motto of the twelve zodiac signs for marriage is: the white horse is afraid of the green ox, the sheep and the rat are afraid of each other: snakes and tigers are like knives and files, pigs and monkeys are afraid of each other. The golden rooster is afraid of the jade dog. Rabbit and dragon communicate in tears. If the zodiac signs are in conflict with each other, no matter how good the conditions are, they can't get married, and there is no need to continue to get married. If the zodiac signs are consistent, then check whether the "fate" of both parties is consistent. The so-called "fate" is based on the heavenly stems and earthly branches of the year, month, day and time when both parties were born, forming a "fate" named according to the "five elements", that is, the ten lives of metal, wood, water, and fire. According to the "Five Elements", look at whether the destiny is compatible with each other. If the fates are combined, the "five elements" will generate each other, that is, metal will generate water, water will generate wood, wood will generate fire, fire will generate earth, and earth will generate metal. Otherwise, the "five elements" will conflict with each other, such as metal overcoming wood, wood overcoming earth, earth overcoming water, water overcoming fire, and fire gram gold. The "Five Elements" interacting with each other is naturally a good match for marriage, but it cannot always be so smooth. This depends on the "Five Elements" corresponding to the incompatibility. As long as the "Five Elements" are not in conflict with each other, such as metal and wood, excluding the wood life, you can get married if you replace it with fire and earth. This is the mutual insult in the "Five Elements". That is, fire bullies water, water bullies earth, earth bullies wood, wood bullies metal, and metal bullies fire. Although insult is not as good as life, it is better than restraint. After the calculation of zodiac signs and fate, there is still the last hurdle, which is the conflict and combination of birth and horoscopes. Therefore, intermarriage is very complicated, and you usually have to ask a fortune teller or a yin and yang man to calculate it. However, there is also a set of formulas. Without this formula, they would sometimes be blinded.
The horoscope of Niu Chen pays attention to Liuhe and Liuxiang. The combination is ancient, and the conflict is fierce. Liuhe is: Yinhai, Maowu, Chenwei, Xumu, Sishen, and Zichou. The six punches are: Yinshen, Maoyou, Ziwu, Chouwei, Chenxu, and Sihai. If the zodiac sign, fate, and birth date are completely consistent, it is auspicious for people, and if the two items are consistent, it is auspicious. If one of the two items matches, it is auspicious, but if none of them match, there is no match. This is called "asking for names" and "divination" in ancient weddings: Guo Xiao Tie is also called "Changing Geng Tie" or "Passing Red Tie". After the marriage is completed, if the zodiac sign, life and birth date are not inconsistent, the signature can be signed The marriage contract is the "Guo Xiao Tie", which is a written agreement between the two parties to initially implement the marriage intention. It is similar to the current "initial" and cannot be regarded as a formal text. First, the groom's family invites someone to write it on red paper. The intention of proposing is to write down the man's three generations and his birthday, so it is also called "red post", "geng post" or "proposal post". After receiving the post, the girl's family must write a reply, which is called "yes post" or "proposal post". "Marriage Proposal" must also include the woman's birth date. In the past, it was emphasized that "men and women are not related to each other". Therefore, the invitation cannot be signed by the person concerned, but must be signed by the grandfather in the name of the parent. In the case of a father's death, the eldest brother will give the title, and if the father has no brothers, the uncle or uncle will give the title. In other words, the person with the higher rank will not give way to the person with the lower grade; the person with the closest blood will not give the title. The elders call them Da De Wang, the juniors call them Da Marriage Hope, and the juniors call them Da Yi Wang; the elders call themselves Dependent Marriage Late, the juniors call themselves Dependent Marriage Brother, and the juniors call themselves Dependent Marriage Love. The frequency of occurrence is very high. In folk life activities, we often hear or see "auspicious days" for weddings, funerals, sacrifices, marriages, business cooperation, groundbreaking for house construction, business trips, etc. Make your own affairs smooth, especially in the current period of recovery of traditional Chinese culture. This idiom of "auspicious days" has become popular again, and more and more people are practicing it. However, due to historical reasons, there has been a gap in traditional Chinese folk culture. , so that many modern people do not understand the origin of "Auspicious Days", so there are blind followers who regard it as a classic; one-sided critics regard it as a scourge and other social phenomena.
So, What exactly is the "zodiac"? "Ecliptic" is originally a term in ancient astronomy. The ecliptic is the orbit of the earth around the sun. Its astronomical theory originated in ancient Babylon and was later introduced to ancient Greece. It was spread from Greece around the Gregorian calendar. It entered India and was introduced to China with the translation of Buddhist scriptures during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At that time, the Chinese astronomical calendar already had a well-developed zodiac system, so after the zodiac was introduced, it did not have much impact on traditional Chinese astronomy. . It was not until the end of the Ming Dynasty that Christian missionaries introduced a large amount of Western astronomy to China, and the zodiac gradually became widely used.
The positions of the zodiac constellations coincide with the Chinese solar calendar. , (the lunar calendar, also known as the lunar calendar among the people) has the same distribution of the twenty-four solar terms and the twenty-eight constellations. It is precisely because of this similarity that the zodiac has been integrated into the Chinese astronomy and astrology system. The formation itself is based on ancient astrology theory, so the concept of the zodiac is naturally used in astrology. It is not only used in astrology, but also plays a great role in farming, weather prediction, etc.
In fact, "auspicious days" are explained in terms of weather forecasts in a large sense. Just imagine, when activities such as weddings, funerals, business cooperation, groundbreaking for house construction, and business trips are carried out. What will be the result of wind, rain, lightning, or even natural disasters? I don't think anyone wants this to happen.
The word "auspicious day" does not have a superstitious meaning. It represents a vision of all beautiful things, which is understandable. As for the instructions in the "Old Emperor's Calendar" to find a good day for medical treatment, making clothes, and even bathing and haircuts, there is no need to follow them. Because that is the past tense, and there is indeed some dross in traditional culture. When we inherit and carry forward traditional culture, we should "take the essence and remove the dross. The past is used for the present, and the foreign is used for China." (Chairman Mao's Quotations ). The "auspicious days of the zodiac" are an example of combining Chinese and Western styles.